[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 850 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 850

 Recognizing suicide as a public health problem and expressing support 
 for designation of September as ``National Suicide Prevention Month''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 8, 2016

 Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Thompson 
of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Black, Mr. Walden, Mr. Young of Iowa, Mr. Curbelo 
 of Florida, Mr. Costello of Pennsylvania, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Kinzinger 
of Illinois, Mr. Gibson, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Deutch, Ms. Eddie 
Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Levin, Mr. Ryan 
  of Ohio, Ms. Norton, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. DeSantis, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
 Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. Knight, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Shuster, Mr. 
   Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Noem, Mr. 
Rothfus, Mr. Emmer of Minnesota, and Mr. Katko) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing suicide as a public health problem and expressing support 
 for designation of September as ``National Suicide Prevention Month''.

Whereas suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and the 
        second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 
        to 34;
Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one 
        person completes suicide every 12.3 minutes, resulting in nearly 43,000 
        suicides each year in the United States;
Whereas suicide is the only leading cause of death in the United States that has 
        increased every year for the past decade;
Whereas it is estimated that there are over 1,100,000 suicide attempts each 
        year;
Whereas over 90 percent of the people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and 
        treatable mental health condition, although often that condition is not 
        recognized or treated;
Whereas according to the CDC, suicide results in an estimated $44,600,000,000 in 
        combined medical and work loss costs nationally;
Whereas the stigma associated with mental health conditions and suicidality 
        works against suicide prevention by discouraging persons at risk for 
        suicide from seeking life-saving help and further traumatizes survivors 
        of suicide loss and people with lived experience of suicide; and
Whereas September would be an appropriate month to designate as ``National 
        Suicide Prevention Month'' which overlaps World Suicide Prevention Day, 
        September 10, recognized internationally and supported by the World 
        Health Organization: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes suicide as a preventable national and State 
        public health problem;
            (2) supports the designation of ``National Suicide 
        Prevention Month'';
            (3) supports declaring that suicide prevention should be a 
        priority;
            (4) acknowledges that no single suicide prevention program 
        or effort will be appropriate for all populations or 
        communities;
            (5) promotes awareness that there is no single cause for 
        suicide, and that suicide most often occurs when stressors 
        exceed current coping abilities of someone suffering from a 
        mental health condition; and
            (6) develops and implements strategies to increase access 
        to quality mental health, substance abuse, and suicide 
        prevention services.
                                 <all>